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Does the UK need a new web address suffix?

16/01/2013

Recently-announced plans to introduce a new '.uk' ending to web addresses has led to fierce debate over whether or not such a move would be appropriate.

Nominet, the organisation in charge of web addresses in Britain, says the new suffix will create safer web addresses as all sites registered as .uk will undergo background checks to ensure they are genuine.

However, this has sparked outrage among other organisations, including a coalition of children's charities representing the likes of Barnardo's and the NSPCC, who say Nominet should instead focus on making the .co.uk suffix more secure, and that the new proposal essentially amounts to an admission that .co.uk web addresses do not meet the adequate standards for safety against hackers.

Furthermore, Nominet is likely to charge up to four times as much for a .uk address as for a .co.uk address, with critics claiming the organisation is trying to create a monopoly over security, leaving companies with the choice of paying over the odds or taking their chances with an insecure web address.